quiz 1 literary terms Flashcards
foil
a character who contrasts with another— usually with the protagonist— in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character
foot
a unit of meter within a line of poetry
foreshadowing
when the writer provides clues or hints that suggest or predict future event in a story.
free verse
poetry without regular patterns of rhyme and rhythm. Often used to capture the sounds and rhythms of ordinary speech.
genre
a type or category of literature. The four main genres are fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama.
haiku
a traditional form of Japanese poetry, usually dealing with nature. A haiku has three lines and describes a single moment, feeling or thing. The first and third lines contain five syllables and the second line contains seven syllables.
heroic couplet or closed couplet
a couplet consisting of two successive rhyming lines that contain a complete thought.
historical fiction
fiction that explores a past time period and may contain references to actual people and events.
humor
the quality that provokes laughter or amusement. Writers create humor through exaggeration, sarcasm, amusing descriptions, irony, and witty dialogue.
hyperbole
a figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis or humorous effect.
(hi-per-bo-lee)
idiom
a phrase or expression that means something different from what the words actually say (for example, using the phrase “over his head” instead of “He doesn’t understand”)
imagery
the use of words and phrases that appeal to the five senses. Writers use sensory details to help readers imagine how things look, feel, smell, sound, and taste.
irony
a contrast between what is expected and what actually exists or happens. Irony spices up a literary work by adding unexpected twists and allowing the reader to become more involved with the characters and plot.
legend
a story handed down from the past about a specific person, usually someone of heroic accomplishments.
limerick
a short humorous poem composed of five lines that usually has the rhyme scheme aabba, created by two rhyming couplets followed by a fifth line that rhymes with the first couplet. A limerick typically has a sing-song rhythm.
lyric poetry
a song-like poem written mainly to express the feelings or emotions of a single speaker.
(LEER-ick)
memoir
an autobiographical writing that covers only a piece of the writer’s life.
metaphor
a type of figurative language in which a comparison is made between two things that are essentially unalike but may have one quality in common. Unlike a simile, a metaphor does not contain an explicit word of comparison, such as “like” or “as”.
(met-AH-for)
meter
the regular pattern of accented and unaccented syllables.
verbal irony
when the speaker means something different than what he or she is saying
dramatic irony
when the audience knows something the characters don’t know
dramatic irony
when the audience knows something the characters don’t know
situational irony
the different between what is expected to happen and the way events actually work out
